Deborah Kent

Biography

Deborah Kent is Associate Professor of Music and Director of Music at Howard Community College, where her duties include overseeing a full and part-time faculty of over thirty, serving as advisor to all music students, and teaching voice and related activities as well as an occasional Music Appreciation class. She has most recently concentrated on revitalizing the HCC music program through close examination of the coursework and promoting growth through the college’s performing ensembles, an ongoing project that has resulted in six new credit courses and several new ensembles. She plans to complete the accreditation process with NASM, National Associations of Schools of Music as soon as the new Performing Arts building is finished. Three years ago, Dr. Kent further extended the HCC music program outreach by starting a community music school, the Musical Arts Center (MAC). Through it a population that would not be reached through the credit program is served. With the formation of the MAC program, HCC’s music department motto, “Music for a lifetime” is fulfilled, serving students ranging in age from infants through retirees. Dr. Kent served two terms as President of CHEM, the Council for Higher Education in Music, statewide organization of music department representatives that promotes dialogue and coursework articulation between institutions of higher learning. During her tenure in that organization, she facilitated completion of an articulation of Music Theory and Eartraining requirements that was approved by MHEC. She is a former president of the Peabody Conservatory Alumni Association and a member of the Johns Hopkins University Alumni Council. Dr. Kent received a BM in Theory/Composition and MM in Vocal Performance from Mississippi College and the DMA in Vocal Performance from the Peabody Conservatory of Music. She is a member of NATS, National Association of Teachers of Singing and is becoming a much sought after voice teacher, attracting students from all over the Mid-Atlantic region. A dramatic soprano who has performed concert and operatic literature from the seventeenth century through today, she considers voice/orchestra literature and the operas of Verdi, Puccini and Wagner her specialties, as well as more intimate art song literature.